News

Thank you to everyone who attended our club’s AGM on Saturday. We had a successful AGM with so many activities going on! This included a hike, distance paddle, beginner kayaking, SUP’ing and windsurfing. Without our volunteer instructors these activities would not be possible so I would like to extend a big thank you to all our instructors in the Outdoor Club for their continued support and time.

At midday we held our AGM where the new Outdoor Club committee for 2018 was elected! It gives me great pleasure to introduce and congratulate our newly elected committee:

President

Addison Ong

Vice President

Connor Teophil

Treasurer

Matt Conner

Secretary

Michal Zawierta

Membership Officer

Saqib Ejaz Awan

Paddling Officer

Helena Midtbo

SUP Officer

David Rees

Climbing Officer

Robin Fletcher

Windsurfing Officer

Aundre Rodrigues

Equipment Officer

Zaquan Alizan

Hiking Officer

Rose Faragher

Social Officer

Alexis Salting

Student Representative

Chiara Folland

Graduate Representative

Deanne Blackburn

General Committee Members

Frances Kirchner

Toby Pearce

Rachel Skellett

Furthermore, on behalf of the Outdoor Club and its members I would like to thank our committee members that have served for the past year or more and have stepped down from the committee. A special thanks to Bruno Buzatto, Daniel McLeod, Leila Folland, Kate Harbone and Camilla Piggott for all their hard work and commitment over the past two or more years. And to Hamish Macpherson, Ellen Williams, Alice Mason and Craig Heal for working alongside us for the past year.

Lastly, as the new committee has been elected you will soon be hearing from our new president, Addison Ong, writing to you from odc.pres@gmail.com. I look forward to seeing what the new committee has planned for the future of the Outdoor Club!

I hope you have all enjoyed your winter adventures and are embracing spring in all its glory. With warmer weather soon approaching, the ODC grows in excitement with its offer of water sports. Two such water sports include stand up paddle boarding (SUP’ing) and windsurfing. Read on to marvel on what our officers have in store for you.

Stand Up Paddle Boarding

David Rees, SUP Officer

SUP (stand-up-paddling) is an all round outdoor workout! Working your core, legs, arms and, hopefully, your sense of balance, there’s more to it than just standing on a plank!

Similar to the Club’s long established kayaking regime, SUP classes involve both skills and distance sessions. Skills sessions typically take place in Matilda Bay and involve learning strokes and then practicing them in a few enjoyable games. SUP polo is one such game where teams try and score using a ball and the local mooring buoys. For distance SUP sessions we leave from the UWA boat shed and paddle, depending on the wind direction, either north-east towards Perth CBD or south towards Jojo’s restaurant. The latter route offers a delightful view of the Pelican Point wildlife sanctuary where many species of birds nest.

Sessions can have up to 14 participants and usually last around 90 minutes. Other advantages of SUP are the quick preparation and pack up times! 10 minutes before and after paddling is all that’s required, leaving plenty of time to spend on the water!

Balancing on a SUP board can be a new sensation, however first-timers quickly find that, like riding a bike, once you get used to the ripple of the water and the tracking of the board, it provides an opportunity not to be missed.

Heading into the sunny season of 2017/18, SUP offers the perfect opportunity to get some fun, social, outdoor exercise in one of Perth’s most scenic locations!

Windsurfing

Zaquan Alizan, Windsurfing Officer

Western Australia has one of the best settings in the world for windsurf! The season usually runs from October until April every year, when the thermal wind starts to kick in and wind consistently clocking at 20+ knots daily.

As a UWA Outdoor Club member, you will have a chance to learn to windsurf with our beginners gear, and progress on with a wide range of advanced gear. UWA is also conveniently located close to Pelican Point, probably the best spot for windsurf within Perth metro.

As we are approaching warmer and windier weather, be sure to look forward for another Windsurf Weekend Away in Lancelin! This is a fun weekend trip with plenty of activities at the beach, soaking up the sun, a big cook-out, and of course windsurf all day. Lancelin is a premier location for windsurfers from all over, so you too could experience the best that windsurf could offer.

The UWA Outdoor Club has been actively expanding windsurf for club members in recent years. We are currently looking to build a windsurf team to carry on to provide accessibility for members. If you are interested, contact the windsurf officer and we will get you up to speed with the on-goings and get you tonnes of time in the water so you can skill up quickly.

Last Sunday we had a very successful AGM, with plenty of activities in
the morning (2 playboat sessions, 1 sea-kayak paddle, 2 SUP sessions, a
climbing session, a beginner windsurfing sessions and a hike!), and I
estimate that ~80 people were out doing one of these activities with us.
Afterwards we had around 60 people attending our BBQ and playing
volleyball, slacklining, and just generally chilling out together by the
foreshore. So I wanted to send a huge thanks to all our volunteer
instructors that made it all possible, and organised all these great
sessions.

We then held the AGM and voted the new committee in. A few committee
members stayed in their positions, some others moved positions (like me
:P), and some members stepped down whereas new committed members were
elected to their positions. So I'd like to thank the enthusiasm and
initiative of everyone that nominated for positions, and congratulate
the newly elected committee:

President

Rachel Skellett

Vice-President

Bruno Buzatto

Secretary

Dan McLeod

Treasurer

Matt Conner

Graduate Representative

Leila Folland

Memberships Officer

Kate Harborne

Equipment Officer

Connor Teophil

Paddling Officer

Camilla Piggott

Climbing Officer

Hamish Mcpherson

Student Representative

Ellen Williams

Windsurfing Officer

Zaquan Alizan

Hiking Officer

Logan Tan

Social Officer

Siyi Liu

SUP Officer

David Rees

General member

Craig Heal

General member

Robin Fletcher

General member

Alice Mason

Finally, I'd like to thank the committee members that served for the
last year (or more than that) and stepped down from the committee on
this AGM, and special thanks to the amazing Unna Chidambaram, David
Kirk, Meg Trew, Aaron Girard and Ellen Barker, who have been very active
and extremely valuable members of the committee and will be dearly
missed in the meetings ;) I hope we still see you guys around in our
outdoorsy activities :)

Now that the new committee has been elected, the handovers are being
organised, and soon you will be hearing from the new president, Rachel,
writing to you from odc.pres@gmail.com.
I am moving to VP and will be organising events and announcing them
from my personal email account through the mailings list, so you didn't
quite get rid of me 100% yet ;)

After a big morning of fun and activities last Saturday, we held our Annual General Meeting. During this meeting the committee for this coming year was elected. Congratulations to all elected members and thank you to everyone who nominated for a position.

President Camden Watts

Vice PresidentRobert McLaughlin

Treasurer Matt Conner

Secretary Katie Vander Donk

Equipment Officer James Gralton

Memberships Officer Cameron Wallace

Paddling Officer Bruno Buzatto

Climbing Officer Carly Weston

Biking Officer Matt Davies

Windsurfing Officer Rama Chidambaram

Hiking Officer Kymberli Lim

Surfing Officer Adam Straw

Volleyball Officer Stéphane Delort

Social Officer Timothy Tan

Student Representative Debbie Pozerski

A huge thank you to the 2013 committee for all their involvement and time invested in the club.

A big day of activities is planned for Sunday 14 March, open to existing members, new members and friends..all welcome! We'll be based at the UWA Watersports Complex on Matilda Bay.

There will be a free bbq from 12.30, with a welcome address from 1pm. A great opportunity to find out about the club, activities planned for 2014 and generally have a good time. There will be paddling happening, slack-lining, rock-climbing, windsurfing etc.

Our AGM the other week was a huge success. Lots of kayaking, climbing, slack-lining and playing around. Thank you to everyone who volunteered to be on the committee this year. It’s looking to be a great year.

Here is the Outdoor Club committee for 2013:

President: Wil Gregory

Vice-president: Robert McLaughlin

Treasurer: Camden Watts

Secretary: Katie Vander Donk

Paddling Officer: Ellen Barker

Climbing Officer: Clive Cullen

Hiking Officer Craig Heal

Mountain Biking Officer: Jérôme Chopard

Adventure Racing Officer: Denisse Fierro

Equipment Officer: James Gralton

Windsurfing Officer: Rama Chidambaram

Webmaster: Victor Perez

Memberships Officer: Daniel Alway

Student Rep: Rachel Chapman

General Committee Members:

- Bruno Buzatto

- Cameron Wallace

- Aparna Ramesh

- Heidi Nistelberger

- Stephen Robinson

- Andrew Pomeroy

Remember that you don’t need to be on the committee to organize a trip –anyone can organize to do things! But if you would like some help in getting things organized, then the committee members are here to help you.

And a BIG THANK YOU to everyone who was on the committee last. You reallyhelped to make it a fun year.

Next time you're down at the boat shed to go out for a paddle, make sure you try out the new PFDs and spray decks the club has just bought. There are 10 new Bomber spray decks; these are a neoprene deck reinforced with aramid fibres around the coaming and should be fantastic for paddling white water. The 12 new PFDs are Ultra Treks; they have plenty of pockets for storing important gear on longer trips, and a pocket for your water bladder.

It's great to have heaps of shiny new gear in the shed, so lets make sure we keep it looking good for as long as possible!

If you're interested in joining the Outdoor Club, or are just keen to find out what we're all about and meet some of the members, then head for our stall on James Oval on O-Day. It will be covered in kayaks, windsurfers and climbing gear so it'll be hard to miss!